Boss On Highly Effective Cheltenham Side

25 January 2017

Artell has respect for Johnson's Cheltenham side as they look for hat-trick of wins over Crewe this season.

Crewe boss David Artell has praised the effectiveness of this weekend’s opponents Cheltenham Town and he says that past meetings with Gary Johnson’s side this season prove they are a dangerous side on their day.

Crewe have failed to beat Cheltenham in three previous meetings this season, having lost the reverse league fixture 2-0 at Whaddon Road and been knocked out of the FA Cup following a replay.

Ahead of our home game against the Robins, Artell told the Alex web-site: “We haven’t beaten them over three games this season and they remain a very effective side. I went to watch them recently and they are very good at what they do.

“We have to conquer that, step up to the plate and make sure we do the ugly side of the game to make sure we get a result. If they beat us by a piece of skill, with someone scoring from 25 yards or whatever then you have to hold your hands up but we have to make sure we don’t get done by giving away cheap goals.

“We have conceded five goals in the last two games and they have been cheap goals. We have to do better than that. They know that and that is everyone, not just the back players.

“We have to stand up and be counted, all of us, and make sure we embrace the challenge that is front of us. We need to develop that real passion for defending where you would hurt your mum if it meant keeping a clean-sheet. It has to hurt when we concede a goal in training never mind in a game.”